Thirty Seven Scars
by Deans
Summary: A collection of drabbles on Neji and Tenten. Note: All drabbles are one shots unless stated otherwise. :NejiTen:
1. Thirty Seven Scars

**Thirty Seven Scars**

Its pouring outside. Inside the blood drops synchronize their fall with the rain. All over her new house painted white, red mixes and dries to a brown sort of mushed color. To Tenten, its beautiful.

Resting his unconscious forehead against her shoulder, Tenten has never been more happy to see blood.

"I thought you were dead," she told him, although he probably couldn't hear. She helped him to her white couch and held back her tears. There are more important things that come before tears. Things like completing your mission, keeping up your act so your loved ones don't worry about you, dressing wounds that paint your house red. That's right, her couch wouldn't be white for long.

"Ughh..." He opened an eye. "Tenten? Where am I?"

"You're home, Neji. Don't move around too much. I'm fixing you up now." A nod, and he passed out again.

Tenten removed his shirt and patched up every single cut, slice, stab. She knew almost every weapon that caused the damage and how it was done.

Twenty six hours passed with Neji passed out on her red and white couch. Twenty six hours passed with Tenten staying by his side, counting the scars.

"Thirty five... thirty six..." She sighed when she got to thirty seven. "I remember when I gave this to you. A simple kunai defeating the Hyuuga prodigy. Absurd, you would say, right? You pretended it didn't hurt, and here's the scar that says you were lying. Neji... why do you always have to play tough guy?"

"If I don't, who will? Lee?" He said, eyes still closed.

"How long have you been up?"

"Since yesterday. Why didn't you try to wake me? Now I've bled all over your couch."

"And my carpet, and my wood floor, and my coffee table. The list goes on." She looked down. She looked sad.

"I'll pay for those."

"Not the point, idiot." Tenten looked into his eyes and gave him such a sad smile it made a tremor run through him. She put her hand on his neck and rested her cheek against his. Holding back tears, she couldn't manage more than a shaky whisper. "Neji, you're strong. I _know_ this. Stop trying to prove it to everyone because we all know it. But you know something," Tenten lifted her head and looked him straight in the eyes. "Even if you weren't, we would love you anyway. I'd rather have you alive with me then dead and strong. So stop trying to save the world when we're only Chunnin." She couldn't resist the urge to blink, and when she blinked her tears started flowing. She cried into his neck, almost completely on top of him.

"Tenten..." He held her like that until one of his cuts reopened and he started to bleed on her couch again. "Tenten, I'm bleeding."

"Good. That's how I know you're alive." She said and dried her tears on her bare arm. She patched up the bleeding cut once again.

"Thank you, Tenten," he said when she was done.

"You're welcome," she said as he sat up.

Thirty seven scars, soon to be thirty eight.

**Fin**


	2. Man on the Moon

**Man on the Moon**

Its eleven thirty two, and two out of four are still awake.

Tenten got up from her bed made of Lee's leg and sand and walked over to the river's edge. There sat Hyuuga Neji, his eyes glowing like the moon. Those eyes that tied him to the moon.

It took about five seconds before he made it clear he knew Tenten was there.

"Why aren't you sleeping?" She walked out of the woods and onto the river's bank. When she was as far away from the water as Neji was, she stopped.

"Because I'm awake," she responded and smiled down at him. When they were alone, just Neji and Tenten, he wasn't stoic like he was around other people. He opened up to Tenten because, she assumed, they were good friends. But it seemed tonight was different. His face showed no signs that he'd heard her. "Neji, are you ok?" She asked, taking a seat beside him.

"Hn."

"Then why do you look like Gai Sensei made you go bikini shopping with him?" Tenten giggled at her own joke. Neji's face scrunched for a brief second, then returned to normal.

"Not now, Tenten."

"Neji? Something is wrong, isn't it?" She asked, looking at him without a returned gaze. "Oh, wait... What's today?"

"The fourteenth."

"Oh no... I'm so sorry I forgot, Neji. On this day--"

"Yeah. On this day, nine years ago, my father passed away."

The two Genin sat there quietly for a while, eyes in a trance with the moon. Ears fixated on the current of the water. Skin tingling from the heat of summer.

"You know Tenten, its childish, but sometimes I wonder if my mother and father are stars, watching down on me. Actually, sometimes I hope they are. Just so I know they are with me." Neji looked at her, and instantly regret saying that. She look surprised at his words and it made his thirteen year old self blush with embarrassment.

"I know what you mean. I hope my parent's are watching over me, too. And we have to be strong for them, Neji. Our parents would want to watch down on us with pride, right?"

"Yes... pride. Something else I wonder... If the face on the moon is made of souls of those who have important people to watch over. People who never had enough time to spend here on Earth."

"Yeah right, Neji. I mean, I was taught that the face on the moon was made of craters, but your idea is good too."

Neji smiled at this and nudged her playfully. "See, this is why I don't open up to people." He sighed.

"But I bet you're right, Neji. You're parents are watching you. They're keeping you strong and protecting you. I can see it in your eyes."

"Can you?" Tenten nodded. Neji was satisfied with this and looked back to the moon.

"Um, Neji... If you want to be alone now, I can go back to camp."

"No. Stay, please. I mean, I can hear Lee snoring from here. You'll never get any sleep if you go back."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Tenten scooted closer to him and leaned her head on his shoulder. After a few minutes, she started to drift.

"No matter where they are, on the moon or if they're stars, they love you. They wouldn't want you to give up."

For a long while after those words were mumbled by a girl now sleeping in his lap, Neji thought and wondered and eventually smiled, under the moon.

**Fin**

Yeah, they were way OOC, right? I was trying to make them seem young (although this is the age they are in the manga/series) and they just ended up weird.


	3. From Other Worlds

**From Other Worlds**

Sometimes when they're breathless, sweating and bound to fall to the ground with exhaustion, Neji looks at Tenten. At these moments she is dirty and bloody from training and completely unladylike. She is a demon on the outside with an angel fighting within. When no one sees Neji, Neji sees Tenten.

Tenten appears fearless to everyone she knows. They call this her determination. Neji thinks this is good in theory, but he watches her all the time and there have been occasions when she felt hopeless and her bottom lip would tremble or her knees would shake. Determination and fearlessness... no. For Tenten, they are not the same. They come from other worlds and decided to meet in the center, but they aren't the same. Tenten is nothing but an average girl, Neji once thought.

How then, does this one average girl with her perfect aim and light brown eyes that glisten in the sun or her sadness, have the ability to change his world?

**Fin**

Spur of the moment drabble.


	4. Suffering

**Suffering**

_Why me?_

Tenten was alone in her room, lying in the dark and completely lost. She was confused and hurt. Hurt to the point where her heart physically stabbed at her chest where she was currently clutching.

_Why her?_

She'd been in isolation ever since it happened. A week ago, the week of her twentieth birthday. If things didn't turn out this way, her baby would have been born in the same week. But things can't happen in life the way you want them, apparently, because something out there wants her to suffer. It wants her to celebrate birthdays and deathdays all at once.

_Why him?_

There was a banging at her door. Just like all the other times, she pretended not to hear it. She knew it was her parents or Neji, probably the ladder at this time of night. She didn't want to face him now. It was her fault. She'd convinced herself so. She couldn't look into Neji's eyes, because there would be a sadness that she'd caused and it was too soon to face it.

_Why now?_

"Tenten, I'm coming in," he said softly through the creek in the door he created. Tenten didn't move. She just stayed still under the covers, her head leaning slightly on her left arm that faced an open window with no breeze.

She listened as Neji closed the door behind him and walked to the edge of her bed. He stopped. He stood there for at least a minute before he spoke, more quiet than ever.

"How are you?" He asked. There was emotion in his voice that she was used to now. Her answer was to squeeze her eyelids over her eyes. Neji found interest in his bare feet for a moment before speaking again.

"It's late now, I know. But are you ever going to come out of this room? Are you hungry? Do you want a bath?"

_Why this?_

She heard sadness in his voice. There was no running from Neji. Not now or ever. Tenten rolled her head and looked at him, her eyes becoming once again damp. She managed to pull a ragged breath into her lungs that let her mutter the words "I'm sorry" before starting to cry again.

Neji's lower lip trembled. When she started sobbing, he fell to the bed and clutched at Tenten's shoulders. She hugged him back unconsciously, pulling at the back of his shirt.

And that's how they stayed for a long time, Neji whispering "It's not your fault" the whole time.

For the first time in a week, Tenten was completely exhausted and slept the whole night through, Neji by her side.

_Why suffer more than necessary?_

**Fin**

Aw, poor Neji and Tenten's baby:'(


	5. Smile

**Smile**

There are times when Tenten found herself staring at him. Like an invisible thread sewed through her lashes that tugged to the sky, she couldn't look away. When he met her stare, her cheeks would flush and his would not, and she wondered if he really didn't feel anything at all or if it was just for show?

When she could meet his gaze no longer, her eyes would study his features. She loved his nose and how perfect it fit his face, his cheekbones stamped with nobility, and how his jaw line met the bottom of his ears after a sharp curve. Most of all, she loved his lips.

She imagined what they would look like if they were to genuinely smile. She had a dream of him once, and for some reason or another he ended up breaking into a smile. In reality she didn't know what it would look like and her mind's eye warped his perfectly pale face into something horrific.

Dreams scared Tenten sometimes because she knew they reveal the subconscious. So she is always hoping that he will be a brooding and handsome image in her life; Something stable to depend on. At other times, she hoped he would find happiness and just break his own barriers.

After studying his face for the hundredth time she'd meet his gaze again, where his eyes had been waiting. Then she would give a genuine smile by demands of her subconscious.

_Will his stoic face remain and leave me feeling foolish? Will he smile back and trample his own image? Did I smile just to teach him how?_

Tenten always looks away and never finds out.

**Fin**

Other than that really sad smile Neji flashed after he lost to Naruto, I haven't seen him really smile. A few smirks here and there, but I really wonder what it would look like.


	6. Of the Sky

**Of the Sky**

"Tell me about the sky."

After training, Neji and Tenten would lay on their backs with their eyes closed. The sun would set and they would rest their eyes and sore muscles side by side. Most of the time, they would sit and think, or get caught in their own daydreams. They were almost always silent. But today, Neji spoke.

"What?" Tenten was confused and caught off guard by his strange question.

"The sky. What does it look like to you right now?"

She turned to him to show her confusion, but his eyes were closed. So she turned her attention to the sky.

"It's... peaceful. And colorful."

"What colors are there?"

She bit her lip and studied the sky, still feeling strange answering questions that Neji could easily find out on his own. It wasn't something he usually did.

"Mostly yellow. There's a little pink and then red. And a tiny bit of purple over there." She pointed and Neji's face followed without opening his eyes.

"So those are the colors of peace?" Neji asked in a whisper. Then he gave a breathed out a laugh, one with no amusement. "But they are not limited to being peaceful. I see those colors everyday. I see them everywhere, with these eyes." He opened his eyes then, and turned to Tenten.

Tenten locked his gaze and frowned at him. "Why do you always say such sad things? It makes me want to cry for you."

Neji turned away from her eyes and lifted himself off the ground. He sighed while turning to Tenten with his hand held out. She took it as she pulled her weight up on her own.

"Don't waste your tears on me, Tenten." Letting go of her hand, he turned to the sky. "I'm starting to see it. The colors and the sky are starting to connect."

"Neji."

He sighed again and smiled. "Of all the things to worry about--"

And Tenten kissed his cheek, instantly silencing him. Finishing the thought for him she said, "The sky is of the biggest and most important."

**Fin**


	7. Scared of the Gift

**Scared of the Gift**

You flew away from me.

I was too busy counting crows to see I had missed the dove...

Maybe I shouldn't be comparing you to birds.

But I have to say this, for someday you might find these words.

I have been ripped apart elegantly. That's to be expected when any beautiful woman will fall in love with a man.

And it pains me to admit that the man you loved wasn't me. You may not have realized it, but I saw it in your eyes.

You only loved the _idea_ of me. You loved taking care of me because I needed it, and you loved being needed, just as I do.

That's why I loved you.

When it comes down to it, love isn't always enough. We were too perfect a match. We both had scars in our eyes and our worlds were askew. Neither of us could tell at the time that we were in the most painful kind of love. It always ends in tragedy.

That's why I ran.

I was a man lucky enough to find a person to love and that person truly loved me back. To be scared of such a gift is insanity.

So now you know why I have run away, although you may not understand. Please read and re-read these words so when I return, I can understand it all myself with your help.

And I _will_ return.

**Fin**

First shot at this pov.


	8. Defining Beauty

**Defining Beauty**

Neji has always wondered how Tenten can look at a sunset or a rose and think _It's beautiful._

He could never do that. It's neither beautiful nor ugly. It just is.

Sometimes when Tenten refuses to go home until the sunset is over and he refuses to leave her to walk home in the dark, they will sit on top of a hill and he will wonder how the sunset came to be. He will wonder how the rose placed in Tenten's hair so perfectly will come to an end. But he would only wonder about such things when his mind wasn't occupied with things of actual importance.

One day he was wondering, and he was starting to get irritated with the knowledge that he would never get his answer.

"Neji," her voice flowed over his stillness and he breathed it in. "Why do you always look so serious, even under the setting sun?"

He looked at her very seriously and asked, "Doesn't it frustrate you?"

"Yes," she said and smiled.

"You don't know what I'm talking about, Tenten."

"It doesn't matter. There are things in life that will frustrate you, Neji. And then there are things like sunsets. They will always be there for you, if you catch them at the right time."

A slightly confused expression fell over his features. "Why would I go looking for a sunset?"

Rolling her eyes and sighing, Tenten told Neji something that he should have already known. "Because, Hyuuga Neji, that's where you can always find me; under the sunset. That's where I will be waiting to hear about your frustrations."

Tenten lay her head against the grass by his side, and her pink cheeks faced away from him.

After a moment, Neji lay back too, his hand resting on her arm and a slight smile spread on both of their faces.

_Some mysteries can't be solved. And sometimes that fact alone can make them beautiful._

**Fin**


End file.
